History
by bisexualcharliedavis
Summary: "Shouldn't you be home, with your wife? Your pregnant wife?" "Mattie has said that I am not allowed to even think about the Doc's case for her second and third trimesters."


"You're here late."

Charlie looked up from where he was sitting on the floor. Spread out in front of him were case files and pictures, and a selection of notebooks. Some of them she knew to belong to Uncle Matthew, some had Jean's floral handwriting and some seemed to belong to Charlie himself. For his part, he gave her a halting smile.

"I'm always here late. You need to report something?"

"No, no. I'm here to collect my lovely fiance." Seeing Danny was nowhere to be seen, and leaned against Charlie's desk and followed his eyes down to his papers. She'd seen these exact files and pictures a few hundred times in the last ten years, on Jean's kitchen table, on her uncle's desk, on the dinner table at the house she and Danny had just brought, in Charlie's lap on a long car trip...The Blake files. Well, that was what she called them. She wasn't sure what they were called but they were Blake files. Files on the long-absent Lucien Blake. "Is he around?"

"He's getting me some files from the archives."

"I hate it down there."

"Why do you think I made him do it?"

"Probably the same reason I make him kill spiders." This made him chuckles, and he leaned back on the palms of his hands, his legs crossed Indian style. In the last ten years, he hadn't changed too much. He still styled his hair the same way, but there was a lot of grey in it now. She was starting to go a little grey as well but went to great lengths to hide it. But Charlie, it was like he went to bed one night with black hair and woke up grey. He didn't seem self-conscious about it, but she thought he might be at least a little with how obsessive he could be about his hair.

"Well, at least he's good for something." There's no malice there, just friendly humor. When Danny agreed to the long engagement, she had hoped it wouldn't upset Charlie. They'd been divorced for a long time now, but even so, she didn't want to make things difficult for him at work, but especially with Charlie. The two had been best mates since they met, and the idea of him losing someone he obviously loved and cared about...That hurt her. Apparently, that was the usual emotional response according to Jean. She was glad to see that they hadn't changed too much.

"He's also a good lay." It comes out before she can stop and think about how that's not appropriate to be saying to your ex-husband, no matter his status as Danny's friend. But Charlie doesn't take offense, just gives her a little smile.

"Better than me?"

"Leagues." He scoffed, and looked back over to his papers, taking hold of a witness report that's stained with ten years worth of coffee and uses his finger to skim along the numbers. "Shouldn't you be home, with your wife? Your pregnant wife?"

"Mattie has said that I am not allowed to even think about the Doc's case for her second and third trimesters, so this is the last time they'll be out for the next few months. I'm just organizing everything how Jean had it for when I give it back to her."

"Can you?"

"I can try." She scoffed, and there was a flicker of something on his face, but it was gone just as fast. Lucien's death had taken a toll on them all, and every year that passed with little movement seemed to tear the wound wider rather than attempt to knit it closed. But since he got back from England with Mattie, it seemed like Charlie had at least come to terms with maybe never seeing him again. Jean too, with the help of her editor friend, seemed to be slowly inching towards moving on.

They were all hoping that the birth of the first, and probably last if Charlie's age was anything to go by, Davis-O'Brien baby would bring a happy anniversary to celebrate. Jean hadn't seen her granddaughter in what seemed like forever, and Shirley was probably just as excited to add another grandchild to her growing brood of well-spoiled babies. Even uncle Matthew, who she was almost positive was going to be asked to be godfather, had softened remarkably to the idea, helping Charlie assemble the crib that they'd already brought.

Some things never changed, she distinctly remembered Charlie's inability to assemble their kitchen table during their marriage, and it had ended in an utterly disastrous fight. One of the biggest they ever had and they'd only been married about a week. They'd reconciled, they always did, but still. She sometimes thought that they were over it, and they could just be friends again but...She wasn't. And neither was he. But maybe one day.

At least they were getting along professionally. Charlie had even given an interview for her investigation into missing persons for her first televised report. Ever since she and Danny started getting more serious, she found that work started to take up less and less of her time. Maybe that was the problem with her and Charlie. If left to their own devices they were prone to becoming taken over by their work. Both Danny and Mattie had social lives and lived outside of their work. Maybe they were just too much the same.

She allowed them to lapse into a tense silence, Charlie working on organizing his files, her watching. Maybe should give him the benefit of the doubt, he seemed very willing to find compromises with Mattie, and a lot more settled than he ever had been with her. Sometimes, he looks so happy that she feels bad for not noticing how sad he must have been before.

Even though he'd had two marriages before now, it had always seemed to her something was going on with Mattie that she simply was not privy too. Even before they were married, she remembered Charlie taking a trip to London just to visit her after the divorce. And boy, hadn't that felt like rubbing salt in a wound. No one had ever been able to persuade him to take time away from work, not even when he was injured and it was in his best interests. But he'd just dropped everything and gone to see her like it was nothing.

"Okay, I got it - Rose!"

They both glanced up at Danny, who was holding the box Charlie had presumably asked him to get.

"Yes, Rose. The very same Rose who you asked to pick you up after your shift."

"Oh, right." He said, "I guess I'm heading out." He told Charlie, who nodded.

"Have a good night." He said, "Try not to get into any trouble."

Well, she wasn't making any promises.

"You too, Charlie. It was nice to talk again."

"Likewise." He said, before making a shooing motion with his hands. She didn't need a further hint.


End file.
